About

The N2M2L Trailer

Near North Mobile Media Lab (N2M2L) provides the tools media artists, students, filmmakers and audiences in Northern Ontario need to produce, present and enjoy contemporary media arts in all its forms. This includes but is not limited to:

Media Installations

Film Making

Video Art

Animation

Documentary Arts

Sound Production

We provide a rental service of industry standard equipment at low prices, run workshops, hold screenings and events, and foster a growing community of media artists in our region.

We are located in downtown North Bay and also work from our 16 foot mobile trailer retrofitted with the ability to house an entire production facility from shoot to edit!

If you are interested in becoming a member, please visit our membership page. Also check out our rentals and workshops available for members and non-members.

Mandate

The Near North Mobile Media Lab actively promotes media arts access for all artists, regardless of age, class, gender, sexual orientation, race or ability. We provide the tools that media artists, students, and media arts audiences in Northern Ontario need to produce, present and enjoy all forms of contemporary media art. We envision a thriving media arts community in northern Ontario that produces innovative work, has access to contemporary presentations, and is an active participant in a national discourse by overcoming regional limitations.

Mission

ln concrete terms, the Near North Mobile Media Lab facilitates educational workshops, presents exhibitions, screenings and festivals, mentors and provides support to our membership through equipment rentals and project assistance. Far from the centres of population in Ontario, our collective continues to encourage our peers and youth in their explorations of electronic media, in developing their film-making skills and through the professional presentation of their art works.

History of N2M2L

Ice Follies Screening Room on Frozen lake Nipissing 2014

The Near North Mobile Media Lab has been supporting the creation and presentation of Media Arts in the Near North region since its inception as a Canada Council Project in 2004. The success of this first public event titled ‘Phantom Power’ led to various media arts programs in subsequent years and eventually to the formation of the collective. Answering to an overwhelming regional need for a Media Arts access centre, NNMML was incorporated as a non-profit in 2008. Since it has been dedicated to the support and creation of local and regional media art with a focus on workshops and presentation – providing people in our part of Canada with the tools to produce and exhibit their work.

In the earlier stages of the Lab’s formation a fundamental obstacle to overcome was regional limitation, i.e., the geographic distances between our communities, audiences and artists. The solution was to create a mobile component of our access centre that would enable equipment and tools to travel to widely separated towns, cities and sites. In January 2006 the Media Lab purchased a 14-foot mobile home retrofitted to house editing suites and production equipment. A week after the purchase it was used as a location site for the Kennedy Galleryʼs Ice Follies site-specific group exhibition on frozen Lake Nipissing, and in year past has been used to assist in various projects outside of our main office headquarters in the Capitol Centre theatre, downtown North Bay.

Over the years, programming at NNMML has often involved partnerships with organizations primarily within the Near North region. Some of these partnerships include WKP Kennedy Gallery, North Bay Film Club, White Water Gallery, One Kids Place, Near North District School Board, The Art Gallery of Sudbury, Nipissing University, ImagineNATIVE, Canadore College, Greening Nipissing, AIDS Committee of North Bay and area, and many other galleries, non-profit and government organizations. These have existed as educational programs, presentation/exhibition or general assistance on projects involving the exploration of visual media.

In late summer/fall of 2009, the Near North Mobile Media Lab was given a much needed facility upgrade to its headquarters in the Capitol Centre Theatre after a massive flood occurred. The new additions included two self- contained editing suites, a dedicated administrative office and a lobby that doubles as a fully equipped screening room. During this renovation time, the Media Lab managed to present itʼs largest exhibition of independent media artists to date titled Reel Northern which featured the works of 10 artists from across Northern Ontario. The hugely successful exhibition was followed up by a DVD compilation of the work distributed by the Media Lab.

In 2010, the Media Lab hired itʼs second employee and first ever full-time position under the NOHFC program which would become the Communication Officer. This position allowed the Media Lab to establish itself through social networking sites, design a new webpage and begin to create a marketing strategy. In the summer of 2010, our Mobile Lab traveled to the G8 summit in Huntsville Ontario, and hosted 4 media-based artists (3 Canadian, 1 International) in a week long artists residency. The works created were thenbroadcast from the Media Lab trailer and streamed live to 10 participating galleries and media centres across the country including the Brooklyn, New York based gallery No-space.

Now receiving operating funding through Canada Council for the Arts multi- year Media Arts program set to renew in 2014, and the Ontario Arts Councilʼs operating for Media Arts Organizations, N2M2L is set to take on new challenges in the coming years with the revival of our mobility program as being at the forefront of future granting efforts.